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Blenheim Palace

Sir Winston Churchill was born here, superseding any of the previous inhabitants in famousness.

Designed by Sir John Vanbrugh, completed by Nicholas Hawksmoor, and landscaped by heavy weight, ‘Capability’ Brown, Blenheim has been keep up, despite the expense of maintaining such a palatial pile, by the family and currently by the 11th Duke of Marlborough. The palace was built as a gift for John Churchill, the First Duke of Marlborough as thanks for defeating the French at Blenheim in August 1704. His and Winston Churchill’s stories are told in an onsite museum with mini cinema.

The palace’s State Rooms have been loaded up with all the display pieces – a collection of art and craft treasures accumulated over the last 300 years. While the garden, a Brown specialty of tranquil parklands and formal gardens dates from 1760. The palace is richly decorated with porcelain, portraits, tapestries, trinkets and furniture from many eras, but it is the palace itself which must be the main attraction. Its pillared façade has a portico as grand as the British National Gallery and its wings sweep generously, and still pillared with pale stone, along a grand drive. In the rare British baroque style, it definitely deserves its title of palace rather than manor or house, it is as much monument as home. The architect apparently dreamed of viewing the palace from afar, where it looks as graceful and grand as Versailles, but up close some people say the stone ornamentation, unwavering straight lines and heavy wings make it too imposing to be a family home – convenience was definitely subservient to magnificence in the design of Blenheim.

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'Blenheim Palace, near Oxford, stands in a romantic park created by the famous landscape gardener 'Capability' Brown. It was presented by the English nation to John Churchill, first Duke of Marlborough, in recognition of his victory in 1704 over French … Read more...